ИСТИНА

Interdisciplinary research, which is being conducted at the interface of soil and landscape sciences, philosophy, and GIS technologies, is distinguished by a combination of the theoretical questions on the definition of the natural landscape and its implementation to real policies. It is suggested to consider the systems approach as the most challenging topic for the landscape sciences. The reasons for this are the following: (1) the systems approach is a philosophical and, therefore, general science and interdisciplinary approach; (2) natural landscapes can be regarded as systems, and (3) it is well known that the most interesting researches and scientific breakthroughs are made nowadays at the interface of disciplines. In accordance with the systems approach the natural landscape is defined as a geographical system which is elementary structural unit of the earth’s landscape envelope composed of interacting and interrelated elements with homogeneous genetic properties. All elements of the natural landscape are material substances: rocks, air, water, and organisms, which are basic elements, and soil – a derived element. The latter comes into existence through the interaction of the basic elements. The results of the research show that on the basis of this definition creation of supra-national world landscape classification and, consequently, multiscale global landscape map, containing all data required to ensure sustainable land management, are becoming a reality. However, it is absolutely essential to engage the modern GIS technologies for an expert analysis of a large number of different scale thematic maps, digital elevation models, and remote sensing data and eventually for creation of a resulting vector integral map containing information on the landscape features. At present the systems approach is just pronounced in landscape sciences and is not implemented in its entirety.